I have a similar quirky pool that I've been in for twenty years since I graduated from college. We draft players and use their stats (points/rebounds/assists) to compete for the win. There's all different strategies you can use. Do you go with the sixth man off the bench on a one seed - or the big man on a Mid Major to go off (Szczerbiak or Dwayne Wade)? Always fun and adds spice to the games. We've all moved all around the world in the intervening twenty years but most of us remain in the draft. Although I can't say that I've preferred this draft to "everything else in life" - the draft itself and the fun of following the players through the tourney to me is as big as any a part of March Madness.
Our family Beagle regularly leads our pool. Schultz would be proud.
1
I have watched maybe 20 minutes of St. John's BB team. I know very little but have my own biases....I like going against Far West teams playing early in the day on the East Coast.
Truth is BB is boring. My least favorite sport....even like NASCAR better.
Hive me the NHL, MLB, or EPL/World Cup Soccer. Nothing better than sudden death OT in the Stanley Cup Playoffs......see 1970 Bobby Orr aka "Superman."
Or MLB: 1960 World Series Bill Mazeroski's 9th inning walk off HR.
Football is one tier under those 3. There may very well be no football 20 years from now because of the injuries issues.
Truth is BB is boring. My least favorite sport....even like NASCAR better.
Hive me the NHL, MLB, or EPL/World Cup Soccer. Nothing better than sudden death OT in the Stanley Cup Playoffs......see 1970 Bobby Orr aka "Superman."
Or MLB: 1960 World Series Bill Mazeroski's 9th inning walk off HR.
Football is one tier under those 3. There may very well be no football 20 years from now because of the injuries issues.
Pick a few of the most likely upsets and all the rest favorites and you'll do pretty well. Most of all have fun and enjoy watching some games !
2
The truth is at the end of the regular season, some teams are playing better than others. During the N.C.A.A, tournament, on any given game, a player who scores the most points for a team can get in fowl trouble, have an injury, so in many ways it is like gambling, a lot of luck involved.
2
Ms. Klassen - I completely agree with you. The only caveat I would add is that I think the other component to a winning formula, regardless of the sport, is the lack of injuries. Luck is good, injury free is great. Nice post.
2
I always added some spice to my bracket by adopting my own rule that you don't have to pick the same team to progress through the bracket. For example, one could choose Little Immaculate Mama State to beat UNC in the first round, but then pick UNC to play in the second round. It doesn't make a lot of sense but it adds *some* interest value. Problem is, if LIMS actually pulls off the upset, you don't have them in subsequent brackets, unless you put them back in in a later round.
The mention of the Palestra brought back strong and fond memories of watching games there when I was growing up in Philadelphia. Since then, no venue is worth watching basketball in to me. It is, as they say, awesome.
The mention of the Palestra brought back strong and fond memories of watching games there when I was growing up in Philadelphia. Since then, no venue is worth watching basketball in to me. It is, as they say, awesome.
1
i'm goin' w/ brainybracket. seems good to us.
I've done one other unusual bracket. You get 100 points to "buy" teams. With 1 seeds being the most expensive and 16 seeds the cheapest. The points buys are based on historic performance of various seeds. You then get points when your teams win games along with a bonus for upsets. The idea is to find the teams that are underseeded.
“I don’t even want to look at a bracket,” he said. “I fill one out because it’s my sports fan’s obligation, but after 300 games in 13 days, I get to the actual tournament and I’m like, This is boring.”
This is a man after my own heart. I got lost half way through this article. I actually hate basketball itself and find golf the only other sport MORE boring. However, every year I hope and bet on Wisconsin (we were so close in 2015). That is what alumni do. Go Badgers! Go all they way this year!!!
2
Intricate pools are a recordkeeping problem. You can't have a boatload of participants. The fun of the basic pool is that you can include as many as you want. The basic pool creates bragging rights for the whole office. If you win a specialized pool, you're king of the nerds.
With software, intricate pools aren't a recordkeeping problem at all. Long live the machine!
1